W-S property owner calls for removal of Confederate statue

In case you’ve missed, there has been yet another controversy brewing over a Confederate statue, this one in Winston-Salem. On Dec. 31, the city–represented by Mayor Allen Joines, called for the removal of a downtown statue owned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, citing “concerns over confrontation and violence” surrounding other Confederate statues in Durham and Chapel Hill.

But there’s a catch in this case—the Confederate statue sits on private property. But the Winston-Salem Journalreports the owner of the property—Winston Courthouse LLC–has called on the UDC to remove the statue:

In a move that could be a game changer in the local Confederate monument debate, the owner of the land on which the statue of a rebel soldier stands is calling on the United Daughters of the Confederacy to remove it by Jan. 31, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines said Tuesday night.

Joines said that earlier in the day he saw a copy of the letter from attorneys representing the owner of the land beneath the monument, Winston Courthouse LLC, saying the company wants the UDC, which claims ownership of the monument, to remove it out of concern that people living in its renovated courthouse building are safe and undisturbed in their homes.

“Certainly I’m not a lawyer, but they have a very clear right to have something moved off their property that they do not want there,” Joines said.

Two events on opposite sides of the issue are planned at the statue on Sunday. City leaders and police are probably praying for freezing rain.